Nine women are representing New England in the upcoming Olympics.
The 2026 Winter Olympics are upon us soon. There are many athletes who have qualified for the Milano Cortina. Among those are nine women who are from New England. Four women are from Massachusetts, three are from Connecticut and two are from New Hampshire.
The first woman from Massachusetts is Alex Carpenter. Carpenter is 31 years old and was born in North Reading, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of NHL star Bobby Carpenter. She will be playing on the women’s ice hockey team. She attended Boston College, where she was a standout player. When she left the school, she was the career leader in points, goals and assists. She has been in the Winter Olympics two other times, in 2014 and 2022. Both times the hockey team won silver. Carpenter also just played on the World Championship team, where they won gold.
The second woman from Massachusetts is Chevonne Forgan. She will be a part of the women’s luge team. When she was 11 years old, her family moved to Chelmsford, Massachusetts. This was the first time she had ever seen snow. She then started luge as an after-school activity that became much more. After graduating from high school, she moved to Lake Placid to train full-time. She has competed in World Championships since 2022. She has won three medals: one silver and two bronze. This will be her first Olympic appearance.
The third woman from Massachusetts is Julia Kern. Kern was born in Waltham, Massachusetts. She started cross-country skiing at 15 months old. She attended Dartmouth College; however, one month after graduating high school, she made her FIS World Cup debut. Kern’s first Olympic debut was in 2022 for cross-country skiing. There she placed 18th. Since then, she has become a two-time medalist in the World Championships: one silver and one bronze. Now she is competing in the Olympics, and everyone knows she has improved since her last appearance.
The final woman from Massachusetts is Julie Letai. Letai was born in Medfield, Massachusetts. She will be competing in speedskating. She started skating at just two years old. She originally started with figure skating. However, at age seven, she switched to speedskating. She went to the University of Utah. However, like Kern, Letai made her first U.S. National Team before finishing college. She helped the women’s team win silver in the 2024 World Championships. This will be her second Olympic appearance. She first competed in 2022, placing 8th for the 3000m relay and 21st for the 1500m.
The first woman we have from New Hampshire is Caroline Harvey. Harvey was born in Salem, New Hampshire. She will also be playing for the women’s ice hockey team alongside Carpenter. Harvey started playing ice hockey at the age of three. Since then, she always told her family she would be in the Olympics. She attended the University of Wisconsin. She was named the best defender at the 2023 and 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championships. This is where the team won gold both times. She made her Olympic debut in 2022. Here she helped the team win silver.
The second woman from New Hampshire is Grace Henderson. Henderson was born in Durham, New Hampshire. She will be competing in the freestyle skiing event. Henderson learned how to ski at just two years old. She joined the Freeski Slopestyle Rookie Team for the 2019-20 season. Her first breakthrough came when she earned a World Cup podium during the 2022-23 season, where she placed third. She had an injury during the 2024 X Games, but came back in 2025, winning a silver medal. Now, she is ready to make her first Olympic Appearance.
The first woman from Connecticut is Olivia Giaccio. Giaccio was born in Redding, Connecticut. She first learned to ski at two years old. She even went to a ski school in Killington, Vermont. She won her first FIS World Cup event in 2021, all while being at Columbia University. Her specialities in skiing are the moguls and dual moguls. Her first appearance in the Olympics was in 2022. There, she placed 6th for moguls. Since then, she has been competing in the World Championships. She is still looking for that top-three finish.
The second woman from Connecticut is Kristen Santos-Griswold. She was born in Fairfield, Connecticut. Santos-Griswold started figure skating at the age of just three years old. When she saw a speedskating commercial at the age of nine, she knew that’s what she wanted to do. Like Letai, Santos-Griswold appeared first in the 2022 Olympics. Her top two placements were 4th in the 1000m and 8th in the 2000m Relay-Mixed. She has since then won gold in the 1000m in 2024 during the World Championships.
The final woman from Connecticut is Nicole Zaino. Zaino was born in Brookfield, Connecticut. Growing up and even into adulthood, she was a part of sled hockey teams. She suffered a stroke, but that has not slowed her down. She started skiing at the age of 26. Now at the age of 29, she will be competing in the 2026 Olympics in the Para Nordic Skiing event. In 2025, she competed in the World Championship and placed 5th for 12.5km Individual-Sitting.
All these women are representing New England, and we can’t wait to see how they do in the upcoming Olympics.